Few forces will have as profound an impact on business in the 21st century as the global dynamics of energy, natural resources, development, and environment. Our country and world depends on strong, efficient financial systems, efficient energy systems and effective policy solutions. Working together, how can financial institutions and policymakers across the globe creatively leverage their strengths to protect humanity and the planet? Duke is responding to this need by bringing together strong expertise from around around campus, as well as many partners. By combining deep expertise across disciplines to address climate-related financial risks and policy challenges, researchers and students are focused on building stronger communities and systems.

Duke has a variety of course and degree programs related to climate finance and policy offered by several schools. Duke is preparing climate finance and policy leaders of tomorrow with experiential learning and engagement with its vast alumni network. Over the past five years, Duke has consistently ranked in the top 5 of environmental policy graduate programs nationwide. At the undergraduate level, Duke has added several new courses on climate finance and policy, including the Duke Financial Economics program.

Featured Student:
Tyler Ratcliffe ’26

Tyler Ratcliffe is passionate about energy – and preparing for future opportunities for the world and a career in energy. He was the first undergraduate co-leader of Duke Energy Week in 2024. He also was the co-creator and co-instructor of a Energy and Climate Venture Investing house course in collaboration with alumni and students. As an undergraduate studying economics and environmental science, with a focus in renewables and energy transition, he has gained valuable experiences in renewable energy markets with a variety of internships locally and nationally.

Duke has built a deep bench of experts along with increasing global visibility, providing intellectual leadership for the decisions being made by firms, financiers, and governments driving these investments. Duke scholars are looking at the big picture of climate and policy with an interdisciplinary lens, connecting science, business, law and policy. They explore ESG and responsible investing as part of a broader body of collaborative research on long-run risk, climate impacts on the financial system and the need for investment in the transition of emissions-intensive industries. They are exploring the capitalization of technology adoption in connection with policy impacts on investment and role of private capital in the energy transition of low- and middle-income countries. Additional Duke assets of this theme are the Center for Innovation in Risk-analysis for Climate Adaptation and Decision-making and the RESILE initiative.

The Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability conducts and supports actionable research and undertakes sustained engagement with policymakers, businesses, and communities—in addition to delivering transformative educational experiences to empower future leaders.

The Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is a dynamic hub for education, thought leadership, and industry engagement that enables current and future business leaders to understand and respond effectively to the interrelated global challenges of energy, development, and the environment.

The Climate Risk Disclosure Lab acts as a hub for sharing information and ideas on climate-related disclosure standards. Our in-house law and policy experts assemble research and contribute research papers and policy-relevant reports to highlight current climate risk disclosure standards and proposals to improve them. Many of these products are developed collaboratively with academics, NGO policy experts, and industry leaders. In addition, the Lab provides a forum for outside experts to submit their writings on proposed approaches to climate risk disclosure.

The Sanford School of Public Policy offers top-ranked environmental academics and expertise in environmental and energy policy to address policy innovations. Sanford researchers design and help to evaluate the impacts of climate policies.

In April, the second annual “From Billions to Trillions” summit at Duke University built upon the successful 2024 summit, which convened over 500 attendees and featured exchanges with top U.S. officials like John Podesta and Jigar Shah as well as leaders from the private sector and philanthropy. The first summit focused on how the Inflation Reduction Act could catalyze private climate investment in the United States. The 2025 summit updated this domestic dialogue while expanding it to include global climate finance challenges and opportunities.

In March, Duke Law hosted Democracy in Power: The Past and Future of Energy in America, featuring Sandeep Vaheesan. The Antitrust & Competition Law Society lead a conversation with Vaheesan, Legal Director at Open Markets Institute and former regulations counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for a discussion on his recently published book Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States. Vaheesan discussed the struggle between private money and public control over the electrification of America from the New Deal Era to today, and a blueprint for a publicly-managed path to decarbonization.

Climate and sustainability efforts at Duke stretch across disciplines, interconnect operations and academics, cross campus boundaries, reach into the community, and around the world. We are building climate and oceans community partnerships for innovation and impact.

At the Sanford School of Public Policy, students work with local organizations to design improved customer and employee experience in the Human-Centered Design course. A recent student policy consultant applied the course to the Durham Farmers’ Market.